Boulevard Sentinel, 1 January 2012 — Page 4

February 2012

Boulevard Sentinal 2012

page 4

At the 2012 Eagle Rock Chamber of Commerce Installation, business and community leaders were celebrated. Above, left, Ricardo Antunez of RANTZ Auto gets an award for persevering from Assemblymember Anthony Portantino, while at right, Michael Nogueira is acknowledged by Councilman Huizar for presiding over the Eagle Rock Chamber for 8 years.

2012 PREVIEW from page 1 Plans are on hold there until property owners between Fairpark and Chickasaw decide it is time to sell, too. Another mixed use property, the big ugly orange senior and low income building on Colorado and College View lost a tenant recently, when the Glenrock Pharmacy found a better deal in the mini-mall across from Bank of America, where the La Fuentes and OK Chinese food is. The Kurken building, as it is known for the owner/developer Kurken Alanakian, was the subject of continued discussion as business neighbors adjacent to

that property allege that tenants who live in that building must pay extra to rent a parking space if they own a car and want to park it in the lot. They claim that this includes the disabled who have official parking placards, and that vehicles are using up all of the available boulevard and side street parking while the parking lot remains empty. CD 14 deputy Kai Newkirk found this interesting enough to promise to look into it and others wondered out loud if Mr. Alanakian would have been allowed to build if the community knew that future tenants would not be allowed to park there without paying an extra fee. He has reasoned before that he thought it unfair to include parking in the rent when

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not all the tenants drive and would not want to pay for something they do not use. Calls for comment from Kurken building representatives were not returned by press time. All were glad to hear in a report from the Colorado Boulevard Specific Plan Design review board (DRB) that the vacancy of the former Security Bank turned Blockbuster Video was being filled by the local branch of the Chase Bank, which now is at the Super A/ CVS center. The Design Review Board had frowned upon with their plan for a giant neon "NOW OPEN" sign that would sit behind the front windows for the first few months before being changed to some other ad message later. Trader Joes Market was asked by the DRB to retain the mural on the front of their Eagle Rock Store, and to do some landscaping in front of the newly built retaining walls that

bound the recently enlarged parking lot. The DRB meets the 1st and 3rd Thursdays and will meet next on February 2 at the Eagle Rock Library, 6:30 p.111. Next, CD14 Rep.Newkirk reported on the Take Back the Blvd. meeting on possible changes to Colorado Boulevard. He said 60 to 70 attended, and there was pretty clear consensus on three ideas. They were reducing the traffic lanes from three each way to two, creating bicycle lanes and creating curb "bumpouts" that shorten the crosswalks by bringing the curbs and sidewalks out toward the center divider at intersections. The office of Jose Huizar, the Eagle Rock Neighborhood Council and TERA had provided funding for the consultants hired to facilitate the public process. Chamber treasurer Robert DiPietro pushed for the process to include increased parking through the use of angled and perhaps reverse angled parking, which is being tried in other cities. Newkirk said that the width of the Boulevard would not allow that if the grassy medians

are to be retained. A short report on the Yosemite Park task force was heard, where many handball players had showed up at the Eagle Rock Neighborhood Council meeting to protest possible new rules about requiring players to wear shirts and a change in the configuration of the court walls, where the sides might be removed to remove a possible hiding space for criminal activity. He encouraged all to look at and comment on the City Council re-districting when it comes out. The next meeting is January 25, 2012, 4p.m. at the Van Nuys City Hall. Finally, the recent issues of medical marijuana dispensaries and happy-ending massage parlors again came up. Newkirk mentioned that a motion by his boss, Jose Huizar, would ban the marijuana shops completely until the California Supreme Court rules on municipalities' ability to regulate such shops. Others wondered aloud if the highly touted recent reduction in crime was due to the de-facto legalization of prostitution and marijuana.

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